Inspiration

Over the years I’ve met and worked with many talented and interesting people all at different stages of their careers. What often unites them is their challenge to recognise…

their own value

the impact they’ve made and can make

This comes even more sharply in to focus with people at the beginning of their careers which set me thinking. Without a sense of your own value and impact how can you find and create career opportunities; how can you confidently engage with employers?

My other observation was that questions of value and impact seem to be a particular challenge to researchers, scientists and engineers [or combinations thereof 🙂 ]. Of all the people who are set to change the world, it’s them.

Into Action

The digital world is full of information; the real world has many people providing career support. Despite this I knew something was missing; I couldn’t settle. And as often does, an idea began to evolve.

Taking a step back, I gave myself time to ponder and process. Thinking about my own varied career, reflecting on what I’ve learnt from others, considering my business aspirations, I realised an online career development course was the way forward.

Designing and delivering learning experiences. No problem. Speaking at events. Okey-dokey. Creating an online course and producing talking-head video lectures. That was a new combination for me. Not one to side-step a challenge, I set about turning my ideas into reality.

Aims

Entering the Career Zone: Your career has to start somewhere and the early stage is an exciting and transitional time; partly because getting in the career zone is new, unknown territory. My aim was to create a course especially for people at the beginning of their careers; those considering or looking for their first professional role.

The course would be a globally accessible, practical guide which enables people to confidently and purposefully set off on their career adventures. I was going to go beyond advice and empower people.

Careers are Personal: Everyone’s career is different, personal to them and evolves over time. My aim was to help students adopt the right attitude and approach for career success.

The content and activities would be designed to accelerate progress, turn ideas into results plus help people who may be a bit stuck to move forward.

Course Impact: On completion of the online course, my aim was for students to…

have the mindset needed for career success

have demonstrated their value and employability

be able to find and create career opportunities

be able to confidently engage with potential employers

Outcome

One hour of video lectures (27 individual videos to be precise), 7 articles and 39 pieces of downloadable material. A practical guide to kick-starting your career adventure; designed for those at the beginning of their careers.